Funderburk's Bat Thunders With Twins

September 26, 1985|By Larry Guest of the Sentinel Staff

Recycled Orlando Athletes Dept.: Reincarnated slugger Mark Funderburk, up from the Orlando Twins for the final month of the season in Minnesota, is making the best of his second chance. Into Wednesday night's game at Texas the 28-year-old former sucker for any curveball was hitting .373 with two homers and 13 RBIs in 16 games. Nine of his 19 hits off big-league pitching were for extra bases, and one of his homers -- brace yourself -- came off a curve. Says Twins spokesman Tom Mee: ''I think Mark's got an excellent chance to be our DH and pinch hitter against lefties next season.'' Quite a turnaround for a guy who flunked his first shot at the M-Twins several years ago when he even struck out against a pitching machine one day. . . . Recycled, Part II: Blue Collar's new hero on the PGA Seniors Tour, ex-steelworker Walt Zembriski, continues to take giant steps. In five tournaments, our favorite 50-year-old urchin has finished in the top 10 four times and zoomed to No. 35 on the money list with $37,000 in earnings, despite missing the first 12 tournaments of the year while he was still 49. . . . Five tables left for Gene's Gate Crasher, next Tuesday's upgraded renewal of the dinner-auction that raised more than $200,000 for UCF athletics last year.

Little Bird Dept.: NFL is crowing about upturn in its TV ratings, but networks are less than thrilled with advertising revenues. All three networks have had trouble selling out telecasts and have regularly conducted Friday afternoon fire sales with spots going for less than half the asking price. . . . After the L.A. Rams' recent victory over Philadelphia, a radio man asked Rams guard Dennis Harrah, the former Miami Hurricane, if the Rams' line wore the Eagles down in the last quarter. Harrah motioned to a teammate and said, ''You'll have to ask Russ Bolinger here. I got hurt, and he came in for me.'' Bolinger brightened and blurted: ''What? An interview? You want to interview me? Wait a minute. Let me get rid of all the 'you knows' first.'' Bolinger then turned his head and reeled off, ''youknowyouknowyouknowyouknow.'' He turned back to the stunned radio man and said, ''Okay, I'm ready.'' . . . Imagine-if-he-had-beaten-Oklahoma Dept.: Heavily favored Ole Miss scored in the final minute last Saturday for a narrow, 18-16 escape from Arkansas State, a tiny, Division I-AA school. Afterward, Ole Miss Coach Billy Brewer called the game ''a big win for us.'' Huh?

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the maternity ward: Gregory Michael Norman became the newest ''shark'' the other day at Orlando Regional, and mom Laura and daddy Greg, the ''Great White'' golfer, are doing fine. Well-l-l-l, at least daddy was doing fine until his good-news-bad-news Monday at Heathrow. Good news: Greg captained the winning team in the event that raised $30,000-plus for CHARLEE, the agency for abused children. Bad news: The hood of his 10-day-old, $160,000 Rolls Royce Corniche had been abused in the parking lot. . . . After the New Orleans Saints stumbled to 0-2 start in quest of their first winning season in club's 19-year history, long- suffering fan Zoe Engle played off a slogan being promoted by a New Orleans paper. ''If this is what you call 'staying alive in '85,' '' Engle wrote the paper, ''then you can 'kiss my grits in '86.' ''

INFALLIBLE FORECAST (Last Week: 9 right, 3 yips; Season: 24-11, 69%) -- FSU over Kansas by only 4, Florida over Miss St. by 13, Illinois St. over UCF by 10, South Carolina over Georgia in Upset Special, Tulane over Ole Miss by 4 in Upset II, Miami over Boston College by 11, $MU over TCU by 17 Trans- Ams, West Va. over Pitt by 10, Auburn over Tennessee by 13, Oklahoma over Minnesota by 18, Penn State over Rutgers by 8, Clemson over Ga. Tech by 3, Notre Dame over Purdue by 7, Ohio St. over Wash St. by 20, Kentucky over Cincy by 14, Alabama over Vandy by 10, Tennessee St. over FAMU by 7, Bucs over Lions by 4, Broncos over Dolphins by 6.